The United Sates has been considered as one of the countries in the world where advocacy for women rights is prevalent. However, the history of women rights during the pre-colonial period isn’t a good one as it was marred by discrimination and abuse of women’s rights. The society was more male chauvinistic than it is today and there were no equal opportunities between men and women. The height of discrimination was even felt on basic such as education as women seldom got chances to pursue education to the level of men. The debate on women’s rights and campaigns dates back to 1848 when the first conference on women rights was held in Seneca Falls in NY (Banaszak 5). Chronologically this is the time considered to have informed women rights movement. This conference led to the Declaration of sentiment which started pursuing equal treatment of men and women before the law. The declaration is credited to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was the brainchild of the declaration and even drafted it. It is also at this conference that the issue women’s right to universal suffrage came up.
In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association was formed. This organization was pursuing changes to the 15th Amendment as it did not consider the rights of women. In the year 1876, Aron Sargent who was the then Senator of California brought before the Congress and amendment that pursued women’s suffrage. This amendment flopped in the house. Between the 1880s and 1890s, there was an increase in the number of women who joined the movement to advocate for women’s rights. These were drawn from the middle class, civic movements that operated at the local levels, women clubs and professional groups (Banaszak 5).
In the year 1916, a woman from Montana, Jeannette Rankin, won an election to Congress through an election and she became the first woman in the US to be in such high office in the Federal government. This marked the start of involvement of women in national affairs and decision making. Until today, many steps have been made in an attempt to seek equal rights for men and women in the United States. The current day’s America has seen women rise and compete with men in the society. For example, in the coming elections of 2016, Hillary Clinton is among the presidential candidates who has joined the race for the white house. Despite these efforts to achieve equals rights for women, certain challenges persist. For example, cases of rape and domestic violence are still experienced in the US, and this has led to questions about the equal rights of women that America is positively being talked off. For example, dating violence is reported to affect more young women who are in the age bracket 16-24.
There are various challenges still facing women in America despite the efforts of various feminist groups and laws both at the national and state levels to fight for women’s rights. The first challenge is that most women still experience hunger, poverty and some are even homeless. These are basic human rights that each and every human being needs in life. It is estimated that in the United States of America, 70 million women and those who depend on them for livelihood are living under conditions of poverty (Top 18 Issues). With this figure, the United States of America is ranked as the country with the greatest number of women living under such conditions. Considering that role that women play in a family which mostly include taking care of the family. The 70 million women under this category in America need empowerment. Such initiatives can only be undertaken by government institutions since women rights groups can only go as far as advocacy and influence policy change but not the implementation of empowerment programs.
There is also the challenge of income gap between men and women. In the United States, statistics show that out of 10 American households, women are breadwinners in six households. However, it is also reported that the income gap between men and women is very high. For every one hundred dollars that a man earns, a woman earns seventy-seven dollars. This is a pointer that women are not given equal chances in high paying jobs as their counterparts (men). However, the situation is even worse considering that they carry the greatest of family burdens today. A report by a labor economist from Harvard University, which was published in New York Times in 2014 showed that difference in income did not come from the difference in jobs or occupations, but rather, these differences occurred within the specific professions or occupations (Top 18 Issues). This means that a man and a woman serving in the same rank, for example in the department of homeland security, are likely to earn different salaries with the man being paid higher than the woman. This gap in income that is skewed on gender lines has even made the office of the president react.
In the political landscape, women are still under-represented, only twenty percent of our Senate comprises women. In the House of Representatives, it is even lower standing at 18% (Top 18 Issues). However, it is important to note that the majority of the country’s electorate are women. It is, therefore, a disturbing fact that the majority have the lowest representation in both houses. This has occurred in a country that continues to advocate for women’s rights at the international scene yet the scenario at home cannot tell the same story. Even though there have been some improvements in the political arena and a few women have found their way to the top political ranks, more needs to be done to empower women and encourage them to take up political leadership positions in this country. Since most decisions in our house of representatives and the senate are mostly dependent on majority votes, women stand a better chance of making better policies that consider the rights of women than is currently the case with both houses dominated by men.
Violence against women has also been a challenge to women in the United States. Statistics show that at least one in every five college women sampled have been victims of sexual assault (Top 18 Issues). It is also reported that the institutions which such students attend have shown very little responses to such cases when they are reported to them. This has raised concerns to the extent that a White House body was established by the incumbent president, Obama, to help in addressing the issue. Considering violence which occurs at homes, women have registered the worst. It was reported that in all homicide cases where the victim is female, one in three of such victims was killed by their male partner and considering women who are already married, 24% state that they have been victims of physical abuse by their male partners once of several times in their lives (McBride Dorothy & Janine Parry 37). The inaction that is sometimes experienced from the responsible institutions that are charged with the responsibility of handling such issue has led to general apathy amongst some women to report such violence, especially in rural areas.
The US also has the highest rate of maternal mortality; this raises the issue of insufficient infant health and maternal care. The US is the leading country amongst the nations of the developed world when it comes to maternal deaths. It is also the 50th when such statistics considers the whole world (McBride Dorothy & Janine 26). For a developed nation with an economy like the US, this is a worrying trend and needs to be corrected. It is surprising that the US would initiate programs in Africa that are meant to tackle issues of infant, and maternal health, yet the US citizens themselves experience the same problems back at home.
Amidst these challenges, there have been tremendous efforts by various women rights activists and feminist groups to try and better the situation so that equal rights are achieved for women. For example, through the advocacy of various women right groups, the current administration under President Obama, the executive order signed on 8th April 2014 aims to bar contractors from stopping workers from sharing information about their remuneration (Top 18 Issues). Through this order, women will actually be in a position to know how differently they are paid as compared to their male counterparts which they may be in the same rank of job. Also, with the declaration of Assata Shakur as a terrorist by the American security agency, FB, various women activists and African-American movements have moved to challenge the decision citing that Assata, one of the noticeable figures in the fight for African-American women rights, should be to live her life peacefully in exile. Considering the modern society today and the challenges still faced by women in America.
Although the above discussion points out to the various issue of concerns that women rights activists should pursue, change in the current times, seem to be hard to come by and hence are slowly experienced. The best front from which to address these issue is by having women command the better parts of both the federal and state governments. Even though sometimes women blame men for their woes, it is rather astonishing that majority of the American population is composed of women. As a step in the in the best direction, women should strive to gain political influence by having a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It has been proven empirically that mere advocacy and civil movements only lead to a protracted struggle and gains are not commensurate with the energy and resources put forth.
The struggle for women’s rights has attracted political interests with various male candidates using it as a campaign tool. However, it has been evident that these campaigns have been mere rhetoric and instead have further slowed down the process of change as compared to if women sought for political offices and initiated such changes on their own. These challenges and mistakes in the fight for women rights can be used to chart the future for women rights activists and women political leaders. As the first priority step, women should aptly take up leadership positions in the country and ensure that policies in this country are favorable to all. The implementation of such policies should also be monitored closely so that we do not end up with well-formulated policies which are poorly implemented and hence, in the end, no significant changes or achievements are made.
The women activists groups should also ensure that women rights they do not from fragmented organizations that do not speak one voice. In order to successfully pursue the goal of achieving rights for women in the United States, women activists groups should first of all try and from formidable movements that have high bargaining power and wide outreach in the country. Through these, we as a country will realize great improvements when it comes to equal rights for women. The approach of going it alone using various avenues has created political patronage and has weakened the struggle for women’s rights. A good example of how to go about the issue is copying from the two national political parties which have all had impacts on national and even international policy making.
The fight to achieve equal rights for women in America has made several milestones to date. However, it would be complacent to say that the much that has been achieved is just sufficient. In fact more than most, we need to put more efforts in the fight because with better education and civilization, women are just realizing how their rights have been violated and the clamor for women’s rights is growing stronger daily.
References
"Top 18 Issues Challenging Women Today." The Shriver Report. 2014. Web. 05 May 2016
Banaszak, Lee Ann. The women's movement inside and outside the state. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
McBride, Dorothy E., and Janine A. Parry. Women's rights in the USA: Policy debates and gender roles. Routledge, 2014.
